A study of railway ERTMS safety with Colored Petri Nets
Pavol Barger · 2009
The growing complexity and dynamic of the global economy widen the potential impact of knowledge on today’s business enterprises (Hejduk 2005). Knowledge has been recognized as a new resource in gaining organisational competitiveness and it is also the central resources in the achievement of the goal of OH&S management. Active interest in OH&S requires that the workers and employers have the right information at the right time to make decision affecting health and safety. Knowledge and information are preconditions for action. Proving useful information to decisionmakers (including employers, government officials, OH&S professionals, unions and workers) is essential in addressing OH&S issues (Järvis et al. 2007). Despite the growing interest in knowledge management (KM) studies, only a few (Sherehiy et al. 2006, Schulte et al. 2003, Schulte et al. 2004) researches were carried out in the field of OH&S. In the context of the management of OH&S, special attention should be given to tacit knowledge, because the research topics are often identified through direct human experience in the workplace, and the results of the research are often immediately applicable to the solution of a problem. When people solve complex problems in knowledge and experi-as they engage in problem solving they create, use and share tacit knowledge (Järvis et al. 2007). Sherehiy & Karwowski (2006) suggested that the principles and tools of KM should be used to facilitate the management of the existing individual (personal) knowledge, structural knowledge (i.e. knowledge codified into manuals, reports, databases, data warehouses) and organisational knowledge (activity of learning within the organisation) in the fast domain of practical application (Sherehiy et al. 2006). In order for that OH&S knowledge to create value, it must be shared. Although knowledge sharing and knowledge transfer are often used interchangeably. Knowledge sharing refers to exchange knowledge between two individuals and focuses on human capital. Knowledge transfer focuses on structural capital and the transformation of individual knowledge to group or organisational knowledge, which becomes built into process, products and services (Jacobson 2006). Many Estonian OH&S legislations and regulations contain stipulations about disseminating and applying information concerning OH&S. From a legislative perspective, improved dissemination of information and knowledge should encourage awareness, urge precaution, and lead to a reduction in occupational morbidity and mortality. The process of KM and knowledge transfer at the state level in Estonia was analyzed in recent years (Järvis et al. 2007).According to the study results the main ways of knowledge transfer in the field of OH&S in Estonia are via communities of practise, the internet and training (Järvis et al. 2008). However, there is little known how employers, workers and occupational health professionals receive, analyze, share and use this information.